Amazon's Alexa is causing hell for people actually named Alexa — but there's a little-known solution

Amazon's
Alexa voice assistant is causing some confusion for people
actually named Alexa.

It's resulted in jokes and awkward situations for
Alexas everywhere.

There's an easy way to fix it, however - if you know
how.

When Alexa -a PR professional living in London - got an Amazon
Echo in her home, it didn't take long for the jokes to start.

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"My husband thought it was hilarious when he was given one for
Xmas in 2016 and could say 'Alexa, volume down' or 'Alexa, off'
and joke that he was actually talking to me, not the Amazon
Alexa," the London-based Alexa, who asked that her last name not
be used, said in an email to Business Insider.

This Alexa isn't the only one who's had issues with sharing a
given name with the virtual voice assistant. Numerous real-life
Alexas have shared their stories with news outlets as the
popularity of Amazon's voice assistant grows. Alexa-enabled
devices can set timers, play music, and tell people the weather
after receiving a voice command.

Amazon sold millions of Alexa-equipped devices last year, and the
smart speakers are invading homes at an ever-increasing rate.
Alexa dominates the smart-speaker market, according to
Quartz. Google Home is catching up, but it's still a distant
second. That only adds up to life becoming more stressful for
people named Alexa.

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"I work in the service industry, so my name is printed on
receipts that people see all the time," Seattle-based bartender
Alexa Philbeck
told the Seattle Times. "I get comments constantly and people
trying to make jokes or order me around."

She added: "When you hear it so often, it's hard to respond
in a way that is actually nice."

In a Wall Street Journal
article from last year, real Alexas recount being told to do
something, only to have the voice assistant jump in to help
first.

Confusion abounds, but there's an easy way to fix
it.

All users have to do is change the wake word (the word that
the device responds to) from the default "Alexa" to something
else. Owners can choose between "Amazon," "Echo," and "Computer"
(yes, just like "Star Trek") on the Amazon Alexa app.

source

Amazon Alexa app

Still, many Echo owners don't know that this is an option.
Alexa from London, for instance, hasn't changed the
setting on her Echo device yet.

"I didn't actually realize that you can change the word it
responds to until very recently," she said. "We haven't got round
to it yet."